• Posted June 9, 2026

Infections A ‘Major Health Hazard’ For People With Diabetes, Large Study Warns

Diabetes wreaks havoc on the body, doing damage to the heart, kidneys, eyes and other major organs.

But one of the most important health risks from diabetes has not gotten the attention it deserves, researchers argue.

Infections should be considered a major health hazard for anyone with diabetes, according to a new study.

People with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes or even prediabetes have a higher risk of serious infections, researchers reported June 6 in the journal Diabetes.

“Infections are a major health hazard across the diabetes spectrum and are hiding in plain sight. They are common, serious and often preventable, yet they are mostly absent from clinical guidelines,” said lead researcher Julia Critchley, a professor of epidemiology at City St George’s, University of London.

“The number of people living with diabetes across the world is on a dangerously steep rise, and it’s a disservice if we do not treat infection risk as a core part of diabetes care,” Critchley said in a news release. “It cannot be an afterthought.”

For the new study, researchers analyzed infection rates of more than 800,000 people with either diabetes or prediabetes, comparing them to more than 1 million healthy people matched based on age, sex and ethnicity.

Results showed that people with diabetes had a substantially higher risk of infections treated by a primary doctor or infections severe enough to put them in the hospital:

• People with type 1 diabetes had an 81% higher risk of doctor-treated infection and more than tripled risk of being hospitalized for infection.

• Those with type 1 diabetes had 51% higher odds of an infection treated by their family doctor and a nearly doubled risk of hospitalization.

• Folks diagnosed as prediabetic had a 35% increased risk of doctor-treated infection and 33% higher risk of hospitalization.

Overall, infections were the third-highest underlying cause of death among people with type 2 diabetes, after heart disease and cancer, researchers found.

Pneumonia and other lower respiratory tract ailments were found to be the most common infections that put patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes in the hospital.

Sepsis and lower respiratory tract infections also were the most common cause of infection-related death among people with type 2 diabetes, researchers found.

Blood sugar levels were found to be tied to increased infection risk:

• For those with type 1 diabetes, higher average blood sugar led to higher risk of infection.

• For those with type 2 diabetes, fluctuating blood sugar levels were linked to severe infections that required hospitalization.

“Increased infection risk in diabetes should have greater emphasis in U.K., European and U.S. guidance,” Critchley said. “By refreshing guidance on a global scale, it will increase awareness amongst healthcare workers to aid earlier recognition and prompt intervention, which would help reduce avoidable hospital admissions and deaths.”

More information

Yale School of Medicine has more about diabetes and infection risk.

SOURCES: City St George’s, University of London, news release, June 6, 2026, Diabetes, June 6, 2026